Raphael Thys
Freight mobility technology company Einride successfully completed a public road pilot of Einride’s autonomous, electric vehicle, in Selmer, Tennessee.
After receiving the first U.S. approval for operations of this new type of vehicle from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) earlier this year, Einride completed this industry first by operating a fully autonomous, electric vehicle without a safety driver on board on U.S. public roads.
The pilot, in partnership with GE Appliances, a Haier company, took place over the duration of two weeks as the vehicle supported real-time workflows and transported finished goods from GE Appliances’ facilities.
Working in close partnership with NHTSA, state and county officials, and GE Appliances staff, the Einride autonomous vehicle conducted the safe movement of goods between GE Appliances’ manufacturing facility and warehouse.
Einride also partnered with Ericsson, who provided a private connectivity network for seamless vehicle functionality and to enable a Remote Operator to remotely monitor the vehicle.
GE Appliances’ Selmer, TN facility was chosen as the pilot launch site due to the nature of the environment for safe testing of operations while meeting the real demand for movement of goods.
Einride operates one of the largest fleets of electric vehicles in Europe and the U.S., with the partnership with GE Appliances deploying both autonomous and electric vehicles starting in October 2021.
Since then, GE Appliances has doubled its connected electric fleet of Einride Trucks and is leveraging Einride’s intelligent freight mobility platform, Einride Saga, to reduce emissions throughout its supply chains.